Songs about truly pissed-off people

Subject: Lyr Add: I HOPE YOU DIE (John Wing)
From: GUEST,Paddybee
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 07:29 AM

John Wing's
I HOPE YOU DIE

Woke up this morning and you were gone
I read your note that said "So long"
You said this love would last our lives-
I hope your face breaks out in hives!

Ch:
I hope you die a painful death
I hope you choke on your next breath
You screwed me up, You done me wrong
I hope you die before too long

I hope you have a heart attack
I hope your breasts get really slack
You were my girl but now you're not
I hope you die, I hope you rot.

And I don't want to be your friend
I only want your life to end
You're back in town, someone else's pal
I hope you drown in the love canal

I hope you die a painful death
I hope you choke on your next breath
You screwed me up, You done me wrong
I hope you die before too long

I hope you die before I end this song...
I hopeyou die, I really hope you die
Die,die,die....
I really hope you die.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 02:50 AM

I WILL GO.
After years of foreign fighting.

"When we came back to the glen,
The winter was turning,
Our goods lay in the snow
And our houses were burning."

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: eftifino
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 02:36 AM

How about:

Shaddap You Face! - Joe Dolce
NORWEGIAN WOOD - Beatles
Little girl - Beatles
YOU DON'T MESS AROUND WITH JIM - Jim Croce

Pistol Slapper Blues - Rory Gallagher
GOING TO MY HOME TOWN - Rory gallagher

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Joe_F
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 09:36 PM

I'm an ordinary figure in these democratic states,
A pathetic demonstration of hereditary traits.
As the children of the cops possess the flattest kind of feet
And the daughter of a floosy has a wiggle to her seat,
My position at the bottom of society I owe
To the qualities my parents bequeathed me long ago.
My father was a married man, and what is even more,
He was married to my mother, a fact that I deplore.
I was born in holy wedlock; consequently bye and bye
I was rooked by every bastard with plunder in his eye.
I invested, I deposited, I voted every fall,
And if I saved a penny, the bastards took it all.
At last I've learned my lesson and I'm on the proper track:
I'm a self-appointed bastard, and I'm going to get it back.

-- Ogden Nash, "Four Prominent Bastards", last stanza
(1933, in case you thought it topical)

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Jack Campin
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 07:54 PM

I reckon this lady deserves a song:

texting in a Texas cinema

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Midchuck
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 07:40 PM

Well, since I seemed destined to post to this thread just about every five years, what about the MARCH OF CAMBREADTH, by the former Heather Alexander?

Peter

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 06:47 PM

Pretty angry. Especially "Tell me how a monkey can make a cat!" and "Go cut down the tree where you grind your axe." Ouch.

Subject: Lyr Add: BROWN SKIN GIRL (Lord Invader)
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 06:45 PM

How about this one?

BROWN SKIN GIRL
(Lord Invader-covered by the Mighty Terror)

1. What's wrong with you, Miss Ivy, girl?
Why are you trying to trap me with that baby?
What's wrong with you, Miss Ivy, girl?
Why are you trying to trap me with that baby?
We only got friendly in September,
And the baby was born in November.

Girl, you can't fool me like that,
Tell me how a monkey can make a cat!
(So we singin' bout)

Cho: Brown skin girl, stay home and mind baby,
Brown skin girl, stay home and mind baby.
I'm going away on a sailing boat,
And if I don't come back
Stay home and mind baby

2. Now this is something that a blind can see,
That the baby ain't belong to me,
You know that I am a fellow with a funny face,
And the baby don't belong to the Negro race.
If she go to America,
She compelled to find the right father.
So girl, don't worry with me,
You can't tie me up with that blue-eyed baby.
(chorus)

3. Yes, Ivy, girl, you made an error,
To be in love with that Yankee feller.
You thought he really come here to live,
It is better you had met a native.
You said they come here for ninety-nine years,
And they leave you with that baby shedding tears,
And now you want me to pay the tax,
Go cut down the tree where you grind your axe.
(Chorus)

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Steve-o
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 01:26 PM

A great Civil War song from a truly pissed-off guy:

I'M A GOOD OLD REBEL

(C-Am, C-Am, etc.)

Now I'm a good old rebel, now that's just what I am
And for this land of freedom I do not give a damn
I'm glad I fought against it... I only wish we'd won
And I don't want no pardon for anything I've done

I hates the Yankee nation and everything they do
I hates the Declaration of Independence too
I hates the glorious union....'tis driven with our blood
And I hates the striped banner, I fought it all I could

BREAK

Three hundred thousand Yankees are stiff in Southern dust
We got three hundred thousand before they conquered us
They died of Southern fever, and Southern steel and shot
And I wish it was three million instead of what we got

I won't be reconstructed, I'm better now than then
And for that Carpetbagger, I don't give a damn
So I'm off for the frontier... soon as I can go
I'll prepare a weapon and start for Mexico


Words by Major Innes Randolph, CSA, to the tune of "Joe Bowers"

Note that about 10 REALLY obnoxious verses are omitted in Ry Cooder's version (crap about joining the KKK, etc.)

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 12:44 PM

I though I'd proof-read that. More coffee needed...

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 12:33 PM

There's a whole category of songs about the bad conditions in (whatever) jail.

Here's three that come immediately to mind:
Hard Times in the Crider County Jail
Hard Times in the Wise County Jail
Hard Times in Durant Jail.

These are all different songs, not merely the substitution of the city or county jurisdiction.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 10:33 AM

What Simon Ritchie does is Anarchy In The UK. And he doesn't sound in the slightest bit pissed off. Quite joyful really. On the other hand, just about everything Steve Knightley has written for SoH pisses me off.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 10:18 AM

Quite a bit of Show of hands writing is more than slightly pissed off. ROOTS, on their latest is a good example.

If you're in East Anglia, get Simon Richie to do his version of 'I am an Antichrist'. A morris dancer declaring himself to be an anarchist just seems right, if somewhat obvious. And it's punk on a melodion.....

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,DS
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 12:51 AM

There's JIM JONES which might count more as bitter than pissed off. The last verse goes (from memory):

Oh it's day and night the irons clang and like poor galley slaves,
We toil and toil and when we die must fill dishonored graves,
But it's by and by I'll slip me chains and to the bush I'll go,
And I'll join the brave bush rangers there Jack Donohue & Co.
And some dark night when everything is silent in the town,
I'll shoot the buggers one and all - I'll gun the floggers down,
Oh I'll give the law no little shock remember what I say,
And they'll yet regret they brought Jim Jones in chains to Botany Bay.

Cyril Tawney's FIVE FOOT FLIRT is pissed off:

You're my 5' flirt in the robes of an angel,
Ya better had leave I alone,
Why the way you're behavin' it nearly unnerves I,
The thing that preserves I is my joviality.
Though I've got trouble as thick as my stubble,
It's you that's the worst of them all,
So get out of me track and if ya wants to come back,
You can crawl, crawl, crawl.

Seems to me that writing something pissed off is like writing something bawdy or pornographic; it's easy compared to writing something clever that's pissed off, bawdy or pornographic.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 10:48 PM

"If ever I return all your cities I will burn, destroying all the ladies in the area-o" always sounds like someone is a little miffed.
-Phil

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Artful Codger
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 10:39 PM

"Abe Carmen", in Peter Bellamy's second version, packs a good bit of bile.

And there's Eubie Blake's "Hit the Road": a woman's instructions in no uncertain terms to her philandering husband.

"LONG LANKIN" was clearly pissed off when he did a slice-and-dice on his neighbor's young wife and baby.

A propos of gleeful bloodfests, in the version I learned of "With Her Head", "Gadzooks, she's gonna tell him off for having spilt her gore."

---
WARNING: THREAD CREEP
The poem Abby quoted by "Black Bart, the Po8" (Charles Boles aka. Bolton) is genuine, but her comments echoed a couple common myths. Despite his self-chosen sobriquet, he was not really in the habit of leaving poems at his hold-ups. Over his entire eight year career as a stage robber, in which he is credited for at least 27 known robberies and attempts, he left poems at only his fourth and fifth heists; then he abandoned the affectation. His entire poetic corpus consists of just twelve lines. He once said that he contemplated leaving another poem at his last hold-up, but he may have been gilding the lily.

How pissed off he was is also a matter of conjecture. The poems seem intentionally designed to throw off the scent. He wrote the lines in different handwriting styles, and the doggerel and swearing helped create an impression of a man quite different from his San Francisco alter ego, an urbane mining executive (as he pretended to be) of sober habits. He couldn't hide his natural persona completely, though - he was unusually courteous when conducting hold-ups, and abstained from robbing stage passengers.

Furthermore, below that famous first poem, he added this note: "Driver, give my respects to our old friend, the other driver; but I really had a notion to hang my old disguise hat on his weather eye." There's more twinkle than spitfire in his tone.

His second poem is probably closer to the truth than the first:
"Here I lay me down to sleep
To wait the coming morrow
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat,
And everlasting sorrow.
Let come what will I'll try it on
My condition can't be worse;
But if there's money in the box
Tis munny in my purse."

Upon Bolton's release, a newsman asked him if he intended to write more verse. With characteristic wit, he replied something like, "Young man, didn't you hear me say I would commit no more crimes?"

His first poem has indeed been incorporated into songs. One example, "El Corrido de Bartolo Negro" appears in Katie Lee's Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle - though both the song and Lee's commentary are rife with errors. (Lee also quotes the poems in a curious composite form, with the first embedded in the middle of the second, the way they once appeared in a circular about the robberies and which was soon copied.)

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 09:41 PM

Yes, John McCutcheon wrote it; also recorded by Charlie King.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: frogprince
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 09:02 PM

"several years back someone put music to, and expanded the joke about the woman who sells a classic Corvette for $300 (or some such rediculously low $s)."
    John McCutcheon (or at least he performs it).

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Leadfingers
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 08:35 PM

The Music Hall had a few Pissed Off people as well - What about the old lament - "THE DARK GIRL DRESSED IN BLUE" for a start ?
Or "THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE"?

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Bugsy
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 08:24 PM

A couple of Eric Bogle's.

Dan
GLASGOW LULLABY
WHEN THE WIND BLOWS
NEVER AGAIN
AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA

NOBODY KNOWS YOU WHEN YOU'RE DOWN AND OUT.

TENNESSEE WALTZ

CHeers
Bugsy

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 08:14 PM

I don't know the name of it, but several years back someone put music to, and expanded the joke about the woman who sells a classic Corvette for $300 (or some such ridiculously low $s). Hope I'm not repeating anything above. [THE RED CORVETTE - John McCutcheon]

WHEN IT'S SPRINGTIME IN ALASKA, an old Johnny Horton ditty.

AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA - the Pogues version is quite angry.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 08:05 PM

"COPS KILL RIGHTS DEAD" - Ethan Daniel Davidson comes to mind.

The country song referenced above 27Dec01 post is "COWARD OF THE COUNTY" - Kenny Rogers.

Then There's "ARM YOUR PRIVATE LEAR JET" - lyrics at freedomtracks.com

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL USED UP (Utah Phillips)
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 07:00 PM

Someone mentioned Utah Philips's ALL USED UP Here it is, in all its glory!

ALL USED UP
(U. Utah Phillips)

I spent my whole life making somebody rich
I busted my ass for that son of a bitch
He left me to die like a dog in a ditch
And told me I'm all used up

He used up my labor, he used up my time
He plundered my body and squandered my mind
Then he gave me a pension, of handouts and wine
And told me I'm all used up

My kids are in hock to a god you call Work
Slaving their lives out for some other jerk
And my youngest in 'Frisco just made shipping-clerk
He don't know I'm all used up

Some young people reach out for power and gold
And they don't have respect for anything old
For pennies they're bought, and for promises sold
Someday they'll be all used up

They use up the oil, they use up the trees
They use up the air and they use up the seas
But how about you, friend, and how about me
What's left, when we're all used up?

I'll finish my life in this crummy hotel
It's lousy with bugs and my God, what a smell
But my plumbing still works and I'm clear as a bell
Don't tell me I'm all used up

Outside of my window the world passes by
It gives me a handout, then spits in my eye
And no one can tell me, 'cause no one knows why
I'm still living, but I'm all used up

Sometimes in a dream I sit by a tree
My life is a book of how things used to be
And the kids gather 'round and they listen to me
They don't think I'm all used up

And there's songs and there's laughter and things I can do
And all that I've learned I can give back to you
And I'd give my last breath just to make it come true
And to know I'm not all used up

They use up the oil, they use up the trees
They use up the air and they use up the seas
But as long as I'm breathing they won't use up me
Don't tell me I'm all used up

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,dax
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 05:42 PM

Some discussion of Carson Robison earlier. His most pissed off song was after Pearl Harbour titled "SLAP THE DIRTY LITTLE JAP." Not very politically correct today but the perspective was different during WW2.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,ibo
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 05:05 PM

PANIC by The Smiths.

Hang the DJ steve wright

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,guest Trev
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 04:32 PM

The Macc Lads would certainly have some pissed-off lyrics

"What the f*ck f*ck f*ck have they done to me pub?"

Shane Macgowan: 'The boys and me are drunk and looking for you, We'll eat your fr*gging entrails and we won't give a damn'. [BOYS FROM THE COUNTY HELL]

Christy Moore, "ORDINARY MAN" Harvey Andrews "UNACCOMPANIED" from "Writer of Songs" album.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 08:21 PM

Rodentred: Cf.:

Good businessmen have often said
Always trim your costs if you're in the red
Well, come shake hands with an overhead
I'm in the sidings now.
If your money-tree will bear no fruit
Never blame the man who tends the root
But take your knife to the tender shoot
I'm in the sidings now.

-- [IN THE SIDINGS] by Cyril Tawney of blessed memory, surely a master of the pissed-off song; it's a wonder he did not show up earlier in this thread:

CHICKEN ON A RAFT on a Monday morning,
Oh what a terrible sight to see...

SALLY, FREE AND EASY, That should be her name
When my body's landed, Hope she dies of shame.

The hand that reaches out for yours
Can only close on a stranger's palm instead
As I lie on my bitter-sweet bed, my love,...

The finest ship that sailed the sea
Is still a prison for the likes of me....

If only the birds would booze
If only the sun was a party-giver
If I could just lend someone else my live
ON A MONDAY MORNING.

--- Joe Fineman [e-mail]

||: If we were all good liars, there would be little commendation of honesty. :||

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 07:47 AM

(Almost) anything by the great Roy Harper, but start with 'I HATE THE WHITE MAN'.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Rodentred
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 07:02 AM

Didn't Utah Phillips write another one about a pissed off person in 'ALL USED UP'

I spent all my life making somebody rich
I busted my back for that son of a bitch
Now he's left me lying like a dog in a ditch
Says I'm all used up

I heard someone sing this once and he was literally spitting venom.

Subject: Lyr Add: EMPIRE HOTEL (John Warner)
From: GUEST,AnneMC
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 12:54 AM

This one is not just about pissed-off people - but the eavesdropper got it literally !

                                EMPIRE HOTEL - by John Warner
The eavesdropper gets his come-uppance.  The tune is a variation on "The Farmer's Toast". (1994) Sung as question and response with male and female singer.

Both:
Early one morning I stood in Walhalla

By the Empire Hotel at the break of the day.

And somewhere upstairs there were two lovers talking,

So softly I listened to what they did say.

Man:        "Why are you stirring, my darling, my dearie?

        It's dark even now and the moon sheds no beam."

Woman:        "I've just heard the footstep of Coker, the fireman,

                He's off to the minehead to start raising steam."

"Why are you rising, my fine, lusty lover,

Surely there's hours till the break of the day?"

        "Shake off the wine from your last night's carousing,

        And look through the window, the light it is gray."

"Why are you dressing your warm, shapely body,

Sliding up garters and lacing your stays?"

        "The room's to be cleaning, the bed's to be making,

        And both of us working like all other days."

As the sun rose, I was still in Walhalla,

Beside that hotel above cold Stringer's Creek,

Charmed by the words of those two secret lovers,

I drew even closer to where they did speak.

"Where are my trousers, my boots and my jacket,

Where is my wallet, you sour faced whore?"

        "Your wallet's right here till you've paid for your pleasure,

        Your clothes, where you led them right there on the floor."

"The hooter is sounding, the skips will be rolling

And soon the gold batteries will rattle the ground."

        "If you're late again, they will fire you this time

        If you're out of cash, then you needn't come round."

"You're a slut! You're a thief, Christ, a man must be senseless

To waste all his money on drink and a whore!"

        "An hour ago I was "darling" and "dearie"

        And I'll wager this evening you'll be back for more."

"Well, here's thirty pieces of my hard earned silver,

The last evening's money I'm wasting on you."

        "The loss is your own, of both silver and pleasure,

        If one man does not, many others can do."

And when he had gone out the door in a flurry,

She drew from the bedside her old chamber pot,

Out of the window she emptied the contents,

I was listening below and collected the lot.

        Hark to the eavesdropper cursing at morning,

        Don't sniff too long at his curious smell,

        But from his cruel fortune take heed and take warning

        Don't listen to lovers at the Empire Hotel.

Subject: Lyr Add: MICK RYAN'S LAMENT (from Tim O'Brien)
From: GUEST,AnneMC
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 06:44 PM

No-one has mentioned "Rock Salt and Nails" (Utah Phillips). One fairly unhappy man with a chip on his shoulder about the two-timing ladies.

Also: MICK RYAN'S LAMENT - Sung by Tim O'Brien
(1999 by Robert Emmet Dunlap, Prodigal Salmon Music/ASCAP)

Well my name is Mick Ryan, I'm lyin' still
In a lonely spot near where I was killed
By a red man defending his native land
In the place that they call Little Big Horn

And I swear I did not see the irony
When I rode with the Seventh Cavalry
I thought that we fought for the land of the free
When we rode from Fort Lincoln that morning

And the band they played the Garryowen
Brass was shining, flags a flowin'
I swear if I had only known
I'd have wished that I'd died back at Vicksburg

For my brother and me, we had barely escaped
From the hell that was Ireland in forty-eight
Two angry young lads who had learned how to hate
But we loved the idea of Amerikay

And we cursed our cousins who fought and bled
In their bloody coats of bloody red
The sun never sets on the bloody dead
Of those who have chosen an empire

But we'd find a better life somehow
In the land where no man has to bow
It seemed right then and it seems right now
That Paddy he died for the union

Ah, but Michael he somehow got turned around
He had stolen the dream that he thought he'd found
Now I never will see that holy ground
For I turned into something I hated

And I'm haunted by the Garryowen
Drums a beating, bugles blowin'
I swear if I had only known
I'd lie with my brother in Vicksburg

And the band they played that Garryowen
Brass was shin, flags a flowin'
I swear if I had only known, I'd lie with
my brother at Vicksburg

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:40 AM

Walter Brennan also performed out life gets tedious.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: ard mhacha
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 07:58 AM

Thanks Songster Bob, I have Carson Robinson on some CDs I have downloaded, and Carson isn`t doing any singing in his version of Life gets tedious,

Sun comes up and the sun goes down,
the hands on the clock keep goin` around,
I gets up and its time to lay down,
that`s just wasted effort.

Carson is lazily drawling his way through this number, and he sure as hell ain`t singing.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 01:01 AM

"SHE GOT THE GOLD MINE (I GOT THE SHAFT)"

"MEET ME AT NO SPECIAL PLACE (AND I'LL BE THERE AT NO PARTICULAR TIME)" -- Nat King Cole

"YOUR MIND IS ON VACATION (AND YOUR MOUTH IS WORKING OVERTIME)" - Mose Allison

"EVERYBODY'S CRYIN' MERCY" -- Mose Allison

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 08:42 PM

Trad: THE GOLDEN VANITY and MY HUSBAND'S GOT NO COURAGE IN HIM

Dylan: POSITIVELY 4TH STREET and MASTERS OF WAR

John Lennon: GIMME SOME TRUTH, and HOW DO YOU SLEEP? (both 1971)

Broadway:
She Loves Me (Bock and Harnick, 1963): WHERE'S MY SHOE?
Kiss, Me Kate (Cole Porter, 1948): I HATE MEN
Whoop-Up (Charlap and Gimbel, 1958): MEN!
My Fair Lady (Lerner and Loewe, 1956): JUST YOU WAIT and WIHOUT YOU

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Songster Bob
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 02:29 PM

Does anyone know the name of the reciter?

The original hit version of this song was by a country singer called Carson Robison. It reached # 14 on the US national charts in 1948. There was also a cover version by Tex Williams at around the same time.

Later recordings were by Walter Brennan (1974?) and Doc Watson. The tune is semi-classical, almost like something Mozart or Haydn might have noodled with and then orchestrated beyond recognition.

Bob

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: ard mhacha
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 01:25 PM

I have just come on to this Thread and after a quick glance through them I failed to see an old favourite from the famous BBC request programme "Family Favourites", anyone remember "LIFE GETS TEEJUS, DON'T IT?".
This monologue by a half-asleep hill-billy was repeated almost every Sunday,
One of the verses went,

There's a mouse a-chawin` at the pantry door,
he`s bin chawin` fer a year or more
and when he gits in he`s sure gonna be sore,
fer there ain't a durn thing in there.

Does anyone know the name of the reciter.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: kendall
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 11:44 AM

SINSULL here. Don't they get hung by a rope braided from their own hair, Midchuck? Guess that's why I thought they were scalped.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,thurg
Date: 19 Apr 06 - 01:42 AM

Someone mentioned the Civil War - there's:

With the devil I do say, Curse Americay!
For I'm sure I've had enough of their hard fighting.

That's after Paddy and his recruited comrades have been told, Every murdered soul of you will get a pension, and after, In the war I lost me leg, All I've now is a wooden peg ... - BY THE HUSH, ME BOYS (as sung by O.J. Abbott in the Edith Fowke collection)


There's a Gaelic song from Cape Breton in which the bard wishes some poor woman who joked about his red hair will prove barren, but if she is not barren, that she will live to see all her children die before her. I believe that one's in the Helen Creighton collection.

And let's not forget that MacLean & MacLean jewel "F--- Ya" - some less gentrified soul can write those lyrics out.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Songster Bob
Date: 18 Apr 06 - 11:57 PM

Some from my songbag:

I am a good old rebel, now that's just what I am.
For this 'fair land of freedom,' I do not give a damn.
I'm glad I fit against it, I only wish we'd won.
I don't want no pardon for anything I done.

I hates the Freedman's Bureau, and everything they do!
I hates the Constitution, the "Great Republic," too;
I hates that nasty eagle, with all its brags and fuss,
Them lyin', thievin' yankees, I hates 'em wuss and wuss.

I hates the Yankee nation, and everything they do!
I hates the Declaration of Independence, too.
Etc.
(From "Unreconstructed Rebel" [O I'M A GOOD OLD REBEL] trad. from a poem published after the Civil War)

And:

It's time to turn the boat around, that's what the people say.
The course our leader's setting is exactly the wrong way.
The compass reads disaster, he's run us hard aground;
It's time to fire the skipper, and then turn the boat around.

(from "TURN THE BOAT AROUND" by Bob Clayton)


I'm having trouble remembering lyrics, but you get the idea.

SongBob

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Midchuck
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 07:22 PM

Not a folk song - not even a song - but the part of Kipling's "Rhyme of the Three Captains," where the British merchant captain is complaining about the privateering activities of John Paul Jones, should qualify:

"He spoke of the Law as he crimped my crew—he swore it was only a loan;
"But when I would ask for my own again, he swore it was none of my own.
"He has taken my little parrakeets that nest beneath the Line,
"He has stripped my rails of the shaddock-frails and the green unripened pine;
"He has taken my bale of dammer and spice I won beyond the seas,
"He has taken my grinning heathen gods—and what should he want o' these?
"My foremast would not mend his boom, my deckhouse patch his boats;
"He has whittled the two, this Yank Yahoo, to peddle for shoe-peg oats.
"I could not fight for the failing light and a rough beam-sea beside,
"But I hulled him once for a clumsy crimp and twice because he lied.
"Had I had guns (as I had goods) to work my Christian harm,
"I had run him up from his quarter-deck to trade with his own yard-arm;
"I had nailed his ears to my capstan-head, and ripped them off with a saw,
"And soused them in the bilgewater, and served them to him raw;
"I had flung him blind in a rudderless boat to rot in the rocking dark,
"I had towed him aft of his own craft, a bait for his brother shark;
"I had lapped him round with cocoa husk, and drenched him with the oil,
"And lashed him fast to his own mast to blaze above my spoil;
"I had stripped his hide for my hammock-side, and tasselled his beard i' the mesh,
"And spitted his crew on the live bamboo that grows through the gangrened flesh;
"I had hove him down by the mangroves brown, where the mud-reef sucks and draws,
"Moored by the heel to his own keel to wait for the land-crab's claws!
"He is lazar within and lime without, ye can nose him far enow,
"For he carries the taint of a musky ship—the reek of the slaver's dhow!"

Peter.

PS - Sinsull, the 'revenge song' you asked about sounds a lot like Tom Russell's "The Sky Above, The Mud Below" - from which I quoted near the top of this thread, about 5 years ago (!). Although nobody gets scalped in that, just hung.

P.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Joybell
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 07:04 PM

Just when I thought it was out of my head! "Somebody Stole my Horse and Cart" is back. I'm too much of a lady to repeat it. There are a few lines on some German websites for some reason. It's just a string of swear words but it sure sings well. I'll bet lots of us know it. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: MaineDog
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 06:08 PM

I can relate to this one!

[THE BALLAD OF JAKE AND 10-TON MOLLY]

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Cool Beans
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 06:02 PM

"I HAD A HAT (WHEN I CAME IN)"

Chorus:
I had a hat when I came in
And I hung it on the rack.
And I'll have a hat when I go out
Or I'll break somebody's back.
I'm a decent man, I'm a peaceful man
And I'm not one to shout.
But I had a hat when I came in
And I'll have a hat when I go out.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 06:01 PM

This is driving me crazy. There was a thread about a revenge song. Two outlaws steal a horse (and kill it?) taking its braided mane and tale. They are scalped in retaliation. Anyone know what I am thinking of?
SINS

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 05:56 PM

"One Two Three
I SHOT MR. LEE"

A traditional pastime if not song.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 03:36 PM

It isn't a song but might make a good recitation. The Great Cursing here:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~sctbew/history/library.htm

Subject: now dont mess with a son of a bitch
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Apr 06 - 01:16 PM

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Nerd
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 02:32 PM

Yeah, to clarify, Mary Cliff's a DJ, not a performer. So when Ferrara says Mary played the song, she means Mary played a record of Aunt Molly singing the song--probably the very LP Bennet recommends.

Mary's a good egg, and usually deserves praise!

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Bennet Zurofsky
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 12:11 PM

"I Hate the Capitalist System" was written by Aunt Molly Jackson, who had good reason to be angry over the coal bosses in her part of Appalachia. Aunt Molly rarely gets the attention or credit she deserves. If she were still alive I am sure she would be royally pissed if someone named Mary Cliff claimed to be the composer.

Aunt Molly is one of the finest political singer-songwriters that I have ever heard, as well as a fine singer of traditional ballads. She is an extremely powerful and moving singer. She made a few trips to New York City to gather support for the National Mineworkers Union (NMU) and the CIO and I believe she performed at Madison Square Garden on one of these trips, but in general her work received little notice, especially outside of left-wing circles.

Upon re-reading Ferrara's posting, perhaps I misunderstood and Mary Cliff simply played Aunt Molly's recording for the gathering. If so, Ms. Cliff should be praised rather than damned. It probably was not a field recording, however. I believe Aunt Molly recorded "I Hate the Capitalist System" at the Library of Congress, probably for Alan Lomax.

Rounder published an excellent L.P. of Aunt Molly Jackson, which included "I Hate the Capitalist System." I don't know if they have published it as a cd. If not, they certainly should, and probably will, as part of their ongoing Alan Lomax project.

Subject: Lyr Add: STUPID'S SONG (I HAVE LED A GOOD LIFE)
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 11:19 AM

A great song from Utah Philips:

STUPID'S SONG (I HAVE LED A GOOD LIFE)

I have led a good life full of peace and quiet
Now I shall have an old age full of rum and riot
Yes, I have been a good lad, careful and artistic
Now I shall have an old age, coarse and anarchistic!

Once I paid my taxes and followed every rule
Banker, boss, and bureaucrat thought me a willing tool
I voted Democratic and paid the church its due
Now all those swine will have to find some other chump to screw.

Of interest, banks and credit, insurance, tax, and rent
Of lawyers, agents, generals, and clerics I repent
With THIS* for corporations and scorn for those elected
I shall be an old bum, loved but unrespected!

* (Mono-digital expletive)

from The Telling Takes Me Home Utah Philips DRO

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Ferrara
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 11:08 PM

Mary Cliff played a full program of women's songs many years back. The most intense and emotion-filled song on the show was a field recording of a woman, a miner's widow I think, and a labor organizer, singing a song she wrote called "I Hates This Capitalist System." [see I HATE THE COMPANY BOSSES] She was fierce.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 10:55 PM

"JONES, OH, JONES," by Blind Blake Alphonso Higgins (recorded by Gordon Bok on In the Kind Land):

"I'm going to powder up my pistol, going to buy me Gatling gun
I'm going to meet you, Jones, you know there ain't no use to run
I got the Army Sergeant with me, got the undertaker too
I got the student doctors offering me money for you
I'm going to keep you to myself, I'm going to kill you dead and bury you
Going to dig you up for fun
I'm going to stand and let the buzzards pick the meat off your bones
I'm going to take my wedding butcher knife and cut you through and through
I'm going to chop you into pieces just big enough for stew
And when I get through with you, everybody going to moan: "Jones, oh Jones."

Does that qualify?

Dan

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Joe_F
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 07:19 PM

[IF I EVER CATCH OLD PERRY]

Well, if I ever, wo-, catch old Perry, I'll kick him in the ditch,
If I ever, wo-, catch old Perry, I'll kill that son of a bitch.
I'm going to chase him, said I'm going to chase him, yes I'll chase him,
Through my mind.

-- Eric von Schmidt

[BILL 'AWKINS]

"An' s'pose you met Bill 'Awkins,
Now what in the devil 'ud you do?"
"I'd open 'is cheek to 'is chin-strap buckle,
An' bung up his both eyes, too --
Gawd -- bless -- 'im!
An' bung up his both eyes, too!"

-- Rudyard Kipling

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From:
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 11:53 AM

What about this from Jeri:

THERE'S A BUG UP MY BUTT

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,ejm
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 10:43 AM

so many pissed-off songs - how about SIXTEEN TONS and what do you get,

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,frankie
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 09:24 AM

A lot of the what the Pogues did sounded like they were pissed off (including the sentimental ballads and lullabies). On the "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" CD Terry Woods (?) cries shit at the end of South Australia / Red Haired Mary.

Pete Seeger does an angry, powerful version of "WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?". Then there's Buddy Guy's "Two-Legged Rat" ["I SMELL A RAT"], the "one-legged fool" in Shel Silverstein's' song ["THREE-LEGGED MAN"]

f

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 08:10 AM

Woody Guthrie's "PHILADELPHIA LAWYER"

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 01:47 AM

Not folk, but - (I'LL BE GLAD WHEN YOU'RE DEAD) YOU RASCAL YOU.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 09:52 PM

Dylan's "SEVEN CURSES"

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Bo
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 09:31 AM

A lot of the most successful songs of the truly pissed off come out in the inflection of the words.

I think JOHNNY I HARDLY KNEW YE, for example, builds to a tremendously pissed off song.

Bo

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Crazy Eddie
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 07:28 AM

Well, it ain't a song, but the man from the creeks who shot Dangerous Dan McGrew was pretty pissed off. [THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW]

"Boys," said he, "you don't know me,
And none of you cares a damn,
But I want to state,
And my words are straight,
And I'll bet my poke they're true,
That one of you is a hound of hell,
And that one is Dan McGrew!

I guess that the man who made a jigsaw puzzle out of Leroy Brown could be described as pissed off too. [BAD LEROY BROWN]

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: TeriLu
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:01 AM

Simon & Garfunkel's "RICHARD CORY"
Lots of Phil Ochs songs - a good one - HERE'S TO THE STATE OF RICHARD NIXON"
several Malvina Reynolds songs - "IT ISN'T NICE", "THE DEVIL'S BAPTIZIN'", etc.
Tom Paxton's "THERE GOES THE MOUNTAIN"
Judy Fjiell-"SCARS ON THE LAND"
Holly Near - "WATCH OUT" and "FIGHT BACK" and others
Leonard Cohen-"STORY OF ISAAC"
the original Irish version of "JOHNNY I HARDLY KNEW YE"
Christine Lavin's "MUSICAL APOLOGY"
"BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?"
Woody's "DEPORTEES" (among others)
I could go on...

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: robomatic
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 10:37 PM

Check out as well several songs from Nick Cave & The Black Seeds "Murder Ballads". My favorite is 'THE CURSE OF MILLHAVEN'

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: WyoWoman
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 11:56 AM

You have a very patient wife.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: leprechaun
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 08:26 PM

Now I remember. Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks! If you just listen to the tune, you'd never know it was about O'Reilly smashing somebody's face. I guess the poor guy didn't really even drink O'Reilly's beer either. O'Reilly was drunk and mistaken.

That reminds me of a story about my own drunken self. Luckily, I'm not nearly as pugnacious as the fictional fellow in the song. It was St. Patty's Day a few years ago. After listening to the band at the Knight's of Columbus, we made our way to the most Irish bar in town. (My German wife being the designated driver, and not inclined to celebrate St. Pat's Day all that vigorously, she waited in the minivan in the parking lot) The bar was crowded. As I walked through with my blackthorn walking stick,(the same old shillelegh me father brought from Ireland)I felt a brief, but friendly grab on my posterior. I turned around and couldn't tell which of the hundreds of people had done it, so I just hoped it was the pretty colleen, naturally assuming she liked my green top hat. For all I know it could have been some big hairy drunken oaf, you never know in my town, but I quickly put that thought out of my head.

Anyway I got a shot of Jameson's and plugged a dollar into the juke box to play some Irish tunes. At some point I noticed my pager was missing. That butt-grabbin' tart must have stolen my pager! I quickly informed my brother of the crime, so he could help me look for the perpetrator. I stomped around the bar a couple of times, but I'm sure I wouldn't have recognized her if I'd seen her. Maybe I was just looking for somebody with a guilty face. I was able to make my way to the pay phone, where I leaned my blackthorn walking stick (the same old shillelegh me father brought from Ireland) against the wall. I fished out a quarter and I must not have been as drunk as I should have been, because I managed to call my pager and put in the number of the pay phone. It was futile investigative method. My pager is always on vibrate, and I could never have heard it in that noisy bar. The owner felt so sorry for us he treated me and my brother to another shot of Jameson's. Of course he does that whether he feels sorry for us or not.

My brother and I walked out, cursing our luck. Of course the first thing I put my hand on when I got back in the minivan was my still vibrating pager.

We had quite a laugh about that on our way home, saying it's a good thing we never found that girl that grabbed my ass. All was well, until the next morning when I realized my blackthorn walking stick (the same old shillelegh me father brought from Ireland) hadn't made its way out of the tavern.

The next mornin' we made our way back to the bar. What with hundreds of people in there the night before, what are the chances my cane will still be there? But sure enough, somebody brought it to the owner and he knew right away who it belonged to.

Now I leave my pager at home on Saint Patrick's Day.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 08:24 PM

Leprechaun and Don,

Yes! I think you've got it! NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE it was! I know where the Clancy LP's are, I'll go dig them out and see if I have the song here. And I'll go check out Amos' versions. Thanks. As a kid hearing that song I always thought it was an enviable skill to have a really good curse handy just in case. (This from someone who always thinks of the correct comeback 5 minutes after the affront has occurred).

Maggie

Subject: Lyr Add: FLUSHED FROM THE BATHROOM OF YOUR HEART
From: gatyamgal
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 03:31 PM

I was also thinking about that song "Flushed from the bathroom of your heart" It is from the Johnny Cash Album, Live at Folsum Prison...(hmmmmm Folsum Prison Blues.... I'll bet there's rich folks eatin' in them fancy dinin' cars... they're probably drinking coffee and smokin' big cigars... possibly another pissed off guy) anyway, here are the words to:

FLUSHED FROM THE BATHROOM OF YOUR HEART

From the back door of your life, you swept me out, Dear.
In the bread line of your dreams, I lost my place.
At the table of your love, I got the brush-off.
At the Indianapolis of your heart, I lost the race.
I've been washed down the sink of your conscience.
In the theatre of your love, I lost my part.
And now you say you've got me out of your conscience.
I've been flushed from the bathroom of your heart.

In the garbage disposal of your dreams, I've been ground up, Dear.
On the river of your plans, I'm up the creek.
Up the elevator of your future, I've been shafted.
On your calendar of events, I'm last week.
I've been washed down the sink of your conscience.
In the theatre of your love, I lost my part.
And now you say you've got me out of your conscience.
I've been flushed from the bathroom of your heart.

Added note: the word "theatre" is pronounced Thee-Ater as opposed to THEE-u-ter... you get the idea.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,MAG at work
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 02:36 PM

The deserted woman in BOLD WILLIAM TAYLOR would qualify, I think --- tho' the conclusion still to me says more about the British navy of the day than anything else.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: WyoWoman
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 02:26 PM

Some of the best songs are motivated by being really pissed off, but the songs aren't overtly pissed, e.g. "ALL QUIET ALONG THE POTOMAC TO-NIGHT," which was spurred by a newspaper story that said (paraphrasing) "All quiet along the Potomac tonight, no officers shot -- only the occasional sentry ... " or "AIN'T I A WOMAN," based on Sojourner Truth's speech, or how about "WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE RAIN" or ...
Come to think of it, a LOT of songs are motivated by pissed-offness, yes? And it's interesting to me that most of the overtly pissed off ones involve men. Women tend to get very sad rather than angry. Too bad. I've always maintained that homicide is SO much healthier than suicide.

ww

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Amos
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 02:26 PM

Actually, Mag, there are two adaptations of "NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE" amidst the song challenge threads, one by the inimitable Derrymacash and one by humble self. Both of them invoke strings of really florid curses at the recipient.

One of them is in this thread, and the other can be found over here!

Now that is pissed-off with style!

A

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Don Firth
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 01:45 PM

Hi, Maggie. I remember John singing it, but I didn't know what it was. Looks like leprechaun nailed it. Reading through it in the database, I'm pretty sure it was NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE.

How about FLUSHED FROM THE BATHROOM OF YOUR HEART? Or is that just a song of unrequited love?

Don Firth

Subject: Lyr Add: WITH 'ER 'EAD TUCKED UNDERNEATH 'ER ARM
From: gatyamgal
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 01:25 PM

I just happened to run across the words to the Ghost of Anne Boleyn. I remember hearing this song on Dr. Demento years ago. It has a catchy tune to it. These words are the "campfire songs" version.

WITH 'ER 'EAD TUCKED UNDERNEATH 'ER ARM
(With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm)

In the Tower of London, large as life,
The ghost of Anne Boleyn walks, they declare
For Anne Boleyn was once King Henry's wife
Until he made the headsman part her hair
Oh yes he did this wrong long years ago
And she comes back at night to tell him so.

CHORUS With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the midnight hour

She comes to haunt King Henry
She means giving him "what for"
Gadzooks! She's gonna tell him off
She's feeling rather sore
And just in case the headsman
Wants to give her an encore
She keeps her head tucked underneath her arm CHORUS

She walks the drafty corridors,
For miles and miles she goes
She often catches cold, you know,
It's cold there when it blows
And it's awfully awkward for the Queen
When she has to blow her nose
With her head tucked underneath her arm CHORUS

One night old King Henry laid a spread
For all his pals and gals, a ghostly crew
The headsman was about to carve the bread
When in comes Anne Boleyn to queer the "do"
She holds her head up with a wild war whoop
And Henry cries "Don't drop it in the soup" ("You silly cow!") CHORUS

The sentries think that it's a football [and/or basketball]
That she carries in
And when they've had a few they shout
"Which team is gonna win?"
They think she looks like ___________ [add name of personality]
Instead of poor old Anne Boleyn
With her head tucked underneath her arm CHORUS

One night she caught King Henry
He was in the canteen bar
Says he "Are you Jane Seymour,
Anne Boleyn, or Catherine Parr?"
"For how the sweet 'san fairy anne'
Do I know who you are...
With your head tucked underneath your arm. CHORUS

She comes to haunt King Henry
She means giving him "what for"
Gadzooks! She's gonna tell him off
She's feeling rather sore
And just in case the headsman
Wants to give her an encore
She keeps her head tucked underneath her arm CHORUS

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Jon W.
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 11:23 AM

COME OUT YOU BLACK AND TANS, come out and fight me like a man/Tell your wife how you got your medals down in Flanders/Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away/from the green and lovely lanes of Killyshandra.

From the Civil War, this line from "THE ALABAMA" - "Our home is on the mountain wave, our flag floats proudly free/No boasting despot tyrant knave shall crush fair liberty! (This line refers to Abraham Lincoln)

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 11:22 AM

Pretty good coverage of songs about people who are pissed off.....Have we got any about people who are pissed on? Or perhaps songs about the ones who are pissed through? I mean you know it's better to be pissed off than pissed on and better to be pissed on than pissed through...because that'd make you a prick.

Just wonderin'

Spaw

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 11:04 AM

Mcaffrey/MaCaffery/MaCassery....all 'valid' spellings of it....

Now he WAS pissed off!

Subject: Lyr Add: ONE MORE MINUTE (Weird Al Yankovic)
From: gatyamgal
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 11:02 AM

This is one of my favorites by Weird Al. I would say he is a little pissed off in this song. Maybe bitter is a better word.

ARTIST: "Weird Al" Yankovic TITLE: One More Minute

Well, I heard that you're leavin'
Gonna leave me far behind
'Cause you found a brand new lover
You decided that I'm not your kind

So I pulled your name out of my Rolodex
And I tore all your pictures in two
And I burned down the malt shop where we used to go
Just because it reminds me of you

That's right, you ain't gonna see me cryin'
I'm glad that you found somebody new
'Cause I'd rather spend eternity eating shards of broken glass
Than spend one more minute with you

I guess I might seem kinda bitter
You got me feelin' down in the dumps
'Cause I'm stranded all alone in the Gas Station of Love
And I have to use the self-service pumps

Oh, so honey, let me help you with that suitcase
You ain't gonna break my heart in two
'Cause I'd rather get a hundred thousand paper cuts on my face
Than spend one more minute with you

I'd rather rip out my intestines with a fork
Than watch you going out with other men
I'd rather slam my fingers in a door
Again and again and again and again and again

Oh, can't you see what I'm tryin' to say, darlin'

I'd rather have my blood sucked out by leeches
Shove an ice pick under a toenail or two
I'd rather clean all the bathrooms in Grand Central Station With my tongue
Than spend one more minute with you

Yes, I'd rather jump naked on a huge pile of thumbtacks
Or stick my nostrils together with Krazy Glue
I'd rather dive into a swimming pool filled with double-edged razor blades
Than spend one more minute with you

I'd rather rip my heart right out of my rib cage With my bare hands And then throw it on the floor and stomp on it 'til I die
Than spend one more minute with you

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Mr Red
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 10:52 AM

I always see NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE as the latter-day equivalent of what the Romans wrote on sheets of lead and cast into religious wells or hot baths like Bath.
archeologists call them curses - I think that sums up the Flaherty song.

My favourite song title may not exist (prove me wrong someone) but you just think it might well as it is C&W
"SHE GOT THE GOLD MINE (I GOT THE SHAFT)" -
pissed on and pissed off I think.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: leprechaun
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 06:15 AM

Maggie -

That's "NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE."

The Clancy Brothers sing it too.

It should be in the DB.

Kevin

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: richardw
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 02:23 PM

"EVIL (IS GOING ON)" was a song of Howlin' Wolf"s. Ken Hamm now does a version and it is a powerful song from an angry man.

If it is sung right there is nothing to beat BUFFALO SKINNERS and the line: "We left his god-damned bones to bleach on the plains of the buffalo."

Richard Wright

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,MAG at work
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 12:27 PM

Nobody seems to have mentioned "Ghost of Anne Boleyn" -- ("WITH HER HEAD TUCKED UNDERNEATH HER ARM")

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Deda
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 11:45 AM

"Evil" (It probably has some other name but that's how I know it.) Sample verse:

[EVIL-HEARTED MAN]

My baby made me breakfast, Brought it to my bed
I took a sip of coffee, threw the cup at her head
Because I'm evil, Evil-hearted me
So low down and evil, evil as a man can be.

That guy sounds pissed off to me.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Raptor
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 11:43 AM

How bout MacClain and MacClain with the song F@#K Ya
Raptor

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 11:24 AM

Don Firth,

I've been trying to remember the source of a song that John Dwyer used to sing, I think he learned it from an album but I don't remember which. It was a string of Irish curses, clearly sung by a totally pissed-off person. It had things like "May your cock never crow" and "May your hens never lay" but went on to very complex curses. Does this ring a bell? I think there was no story, just the steady string of curses.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Abby Sale
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 09:24 AM

 
I had meant trad folk song but I guess there is other song out there (if one doesn't waste too much time at it.)  One of my always-favorite songs is of a really pissed-off guy.  He's just found out the boss's wedding present to him served the primary purpose of giving the boss easy access to the bride's bed.  (It's the fiancee that sees the purpose and complains about it.)  He spends the rest of the show plotting, getting even as only the best Italian intrigue can be.  (The  story is actually written by a Frenchman who well-understood plotting from his marvelous personal life.)

"Se vuol ballare," Figaro's aria from Le Nozze di Figaro

Bravo, signor padrone!                Bravo, my lord and master!
Ora incomincio a capir il mistero,    Now I begin to understand the mystery,
e a veder schietto                    And to see plain
tutto il vostro progetto!             Your whole plan!
A Londra, è vero?                     We're going to London, right?
Voi ministro, io corriero,            You as minister, I as courier,
e la Susanna...segreta ambasciatrice! and Susanna...as a secret envoy!
Non sara, non sarà-- Figaro il dice!  It won't be so, it won't be so--Figaro says it!

Se vuol ballare, signor Contino,      If you want to dance, Sir Count,
Il chitarrino le suonerò.             I'll play the guitar for you.
Se vuol venire nella mia scuola,      If you want to come to my school,
La capriola le insegnerò.             I'll teach you the moves.
Sapro, ma piano, meglio ogni arcano   I'll find out, but quietly; or better, by pretending,
Dissimulando scoprir potrò.           I'll discover every mystery.
L'arte schermendo, l'arte adoprando,  The art of fencing, the art of adapting,
Di quà pungendo, di là scherzando,    Here fighting, there fooling,
Tutte le macchine rovescierò.         I'll overturn all the machinery.

Word-by-word translation by Jane Bishop, [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Coyote Breath
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:52 AM

Check out some of Barton and Para's stuff. JOHNNY WHISTLETRIGGER for one. The "black flaggers" (guerillas) of the Civil War (USA) had some angry songs. My favorite angry "song" is Ralph Chapin's poem [THE RED FEAST]. Which starts:

"Go fight you fools, tear up the earth with strife,
and spill each other's guts upon the field.
Serve unto death the men you served in life,
so that their wide dominions may not yield."

I heard it set to music once and it comes across as an angry antiwar song. Very powerful. And then there is the parody of The Little Red Song Book known as The Bosses Song Book. It has some angry stuff like:

"Slaves of Wall street here we sit
Covered with reaction's s--t
While our sweat is filling Morgan's filthy till
And the Fascists as they pass
Jam Taft-Hartly up our a--
Well, I guess we've had our G--d---d f-----g fill!"

(sorry about the self-censorship but I don't feel comfortable writing that out and I sing that song only with friends)

CB

I guess I'm not very angry myself...

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Labyrinth
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:35 AM

Oh I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes,
And just for that one moment I could be you.
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes,
Then you'd know what a drag it is to see you.
[POSITIVELY 4TH STREET]
& the sentiments in the rest of the song, like "you'd rather see me paralyzed" ~ Dylan could really do "bitter"

I was reading Abby's thread as Songs _about_ PO'd ppl
And almost all suggested have been the speaker/first person, rather than the subject of the song.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Nerd
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:29 AM

"I WANT TO KILL EVERYBODY" by Ed Haynes;

in various versions of "In Fair Worcester City" (aka Scarborough Fair Town, William Glenn, SIR WILLIAM GOWER, Fair Was the City, etc), the murdered woman's ghost rips her murderer into three pieces--now she's pissed off!

Jack Orion/Glasgerion is pretty pissed off when he hangs Tom--or lops off his head, depending on the version.

And, in the end of some Gypsy Laddie versions:

He's sent for a hangman frae Fife and anither frae oot kircaudy, o he's hanged the gypsies yin by yin for the stealin of his lady, o.

On the punk side, The jam used to have a song called Mr. Clean which had the lines:

If you see me in the street, look away coz I don't ever want to catch you lookin' at me, Mr. Clean Coz I hate you and your wife and if I get the chance I'll fuck up your life, Mr. Clean.

And I always thought...why does he hate the dude's wife?

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Don Firth
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:17 AM

Sam Hall and his parting oration has gone down in history, at least in song form. But he might have swung unremembered had it not for the large crowd that had gathered to see hanged, not Sam Hall, but a handsome, dashing highwayman whose exploits had made him something of a popular hero.

Sam, a chimney-sweep by trade before he ran a-foul of the law, cowered in the corner of the cart that was hauling him and the highwayman to the gallows. As the crowd lining the streets cheered the highwayman on to his doom, the highwayman stood tall and proud, acknowledging the cheers and blowing kisses to the ladies. At one point, a wheel of the cart hit a loose cobblestone and the cart lurched, throwing Sam against the highwayman. The highwayman shoved him back into the corner and, ostentatiously brushing the soot off the sleeve of his doublet, he said, "Stand off, varlet, stand off!"

Sam crouched in the corner and snarled, "Stand off yerself! I've as much right to be here as you 'ave!"

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Terry K
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 02:33 AM

for me, nobody ever sounded so pissed-off as Dylan in "SHE'S YOUR LOVER NOW". Come to think, I'm pretty pissed off that he never did a finished version.

Cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Amergin
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 01:08 AM

wonder if there is one for those who provide tech support....like this moron i just had who thought he had windows 95 on his imac....and that he was using ie when he was actually using nitscrape....

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Joe_F
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 12:49 AM

I've been married forty years,
Shared my hopes and shared my fears.
All I earned, spent every bit:
Man, this love's a crock of shit.

I come home most every night,
Me 'n' my wife, we have a fight.
My wife always was a wit.
Man, this love's a crock of shit.

I sent all my kids to school.
Now they think that I'm a fool.
They don't like me 'cause I spit.
Man, this love's a crock of shit.

Young man, if you've never wed,
Listen close to what I've said.
You've got freedom in your mitt.
Man, this love's a crock of shit.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Bert
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 11:06 PM

Look at the Mudcat song challenge about Patrick Wright. There's plenty of pissed off songs there.

BUT, like my friend RiB, I was raised in a family where it was not allowed to show anger. So the song I wrote on the subject will not be published.

Hey Garg, I loved your story. I was married to a dancer for too many years and got to be reasonably good at it. I don't dance now though.

There's so many other subjects to write about that I don't write many angry songs, Could though.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: khandu
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 10:57 PM

Stephen Stills- WORD GAME - Great piece of work

Paul Brady- NOTHING BUT THE SAME OLD STORY

Dylan- Idiot Wind

khandu- Damned Old Spaw

khandu

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Nancy King
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 10:47 PM

And then there's Maybelle Carter's "YOU'RE GONNA BE SORRY YOU LET ME DOWN."

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: leprechaun
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 10:47 PM

I forget the name of the band who did this one. It's called O'REILLY AT THE BAR, I think.

Wasn't that beer there one of mine?
Stealin' my beer is a sin.
You stealin' my drink
Has caused me to think.
Think about the rat that you are.
Whoever you are,
You pushed me too far.
Now I'm gonna smash your face.

Chorus: O'Reilly was smashin' his face.
Those drunks they laughed so loud.
O'Reilly was pleasin' the crowd.
O'Reilly was singin'
O'Reilly was swingin'
Says I'm gonna smash your face.

I suppose it beats the hell out of songs in praise of baby rapin', child murdering pervert degenerate cultists.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 09:44 PM

I'd say "Smackwater Jack" was pretty pissed.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 03:20 PM

Some 1980's CW song about the Gatlin Brother Bullies

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 01:17 PM

I could probably mention a dozen really good Garnet Rogers, Stepen Fearing, Ian Tamblyn, Don Ross, Willie P Bennett, Doug Mcarthur, "angry" songs... but these names tend to get ignored around here...

;-)

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: guinnesschik
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 10:36 AM

Steve Earle sang "Ben McCulloch" on TRAIN A-COMIN', which is a great pissed off Civil War Song.

Goddamn you Ben Mcculloch/ I hate you more than any other man alive/And when you die/You'll be a foot soldier just like me/In the Devil's infantry.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: BK Lick
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 07:52 AM

Two that Dodi Kallick used to sing come to mind: MY CHILDREN ARE LAUGHING, and EVERYDAY DIRT. Neither of 'em is on My Mother's Voice, Kathy's newly released tribute to Dodi, but BANKS OF THE OHIO is and I guess it might qualify.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: BK Lick
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 07:51 AM

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: heric
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:55 PM

Homeless dang you right, which explains why I couldn't find it in the stores; but it was all over napster under "AC/DC." Now I have a whole new genre of inspirational music to explore. (Searching for AC/DC the closest I could come was "And I fell in love with the dirty little bitch." Gotta smile. . . . )

As to Waco, there's also a great rip roaring banjo and fiddle tune about that kooky well armed tax evading family in Idaho that the Feds stormed. It used to be stuck in my head all the time, but the best I can come up with now is "They shot my baby, and my good dog too." He was pissed.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Metchosin
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:39 PM

BLACKLEG MINER

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: ddw
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:34 PM

Two of my favorites are Johnny Paycheck's "TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT" or John Lee Hooker's "I'M MAD"? Big Bill Broonzy's "WHEN WILL I GET TO BE CALLED A MAN?", "GET BACK" [=BLACK BROWN AND WHITE] and "PLOW HAND BLUES" would certainly qualify. "STRANGE FRUIT" is about as pissed off as you can get.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Rolfyboy6
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:05 PM

Duncan, Duncan was tendin' the bar,
And in walked Brady with a shinin' star,
And Brady said "Duncan, you's under arrest,"
And Duncan shot a hole in Brady's breast.

[DUNCAN AND BRADY]

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Art Thieme
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 10:18 PM

There was a decent "Songs of vengeance" thread a while ago that'd fit right in here. Then I mentioned Woody Guthrie's "EAST TEXAS RED"

Also a country hit of sorts, "BLACKJACK COUNTY CHAIN".

Right now I realize that Woody's "TOM JOAD" would fit here admirably. Both Jim Casey and Tom get pissed as hell and take matters into their own hands.

What about "LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ELLENDER" ???
Also "DOBE BILL" (called "THE KILLER" by John Lomax in his book COWBOY SONGS --1910).
Cisco Houston recorded it. So did I on my first Folk Legacy LP--That's The Ticket----Come to think of it, "EAST TEXAS RED" was on that old album o' mine too. I'd bet that Sandy still has it for sale (no pun intended Abby) as one of his custom cassettes.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 09:12 PM

Good call Joe_F

FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, she's one pissed off woman.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 09:04 PM

Getting back to "Trad" a moment here, if we may;

"THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY"

Getting his "True Love" shot dead in the midst of their last fond embrace can certainly get a man's dander up, don't ye know. "..'twas blood for blood without remorse I took out o'er them freely..."

Strangely enough, I don't see a lot of this emotion being expressed in the music of the American Civil War, where Lord knows there was more than enough furious, enraged ferocity to go around for four years or so. Residuals of that toxic flood may still be encountered in some places to this day. Why more songs were not written in the vein of "Good Ol' Rebel" formerly mentioned, I can hardly speculate. Perhaps they considered themselves "above" that sort of thing back then.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 08:31 PM

And I guess this lady must have been pretty unhappy if SHE BURNT THE LITTLE ROADSIDE TAVERN DOWN.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 08:08 PM

SHUT UP AND DRINK YOUR BEER

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 07:21 PM

Oh, thanks, Amos!

"Oh it's 40 below & I don't give a f**k Got a heater in my truck & it's off to the rodeo...."

LOL---I love that one!

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Gareth
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 06:53 PM

Mmmm! There's that Classic Rugby Song "The Good Ship Venus last line of Chorus!

Or that Colliers Song "Lord Faringdon" [=COAL OWNER AND PITMAN'S WIFE] It's in the archives under a different title, but having just celebrated my birthday well, but unwisely, I ain't sober enough to find it.

Need I mention Bogles "AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA"

Gareth

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: 53
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 06:15 PM

david allan coe had a lot of songs about pissed off people, mainly him. BOB

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Amos
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 05:55 PM

Not to mention the classic THE RODEO SONG chorus:

Well it's allemande left, allemande right
C'mon ya fuckin' dummy get the damn thing right
An' get off the stage, ya goddamn dude,
Ya knoooooow.....
You piss me off!
Fockin' jerk!
Get on mah nerves!

The verses don't even bear repeating!

A

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Metchosin
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 04:58 PM

Lou Reed's DIRTY BLVD and Dylan's MASTERS OF WAR.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Joe_F
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 03:29 PM

First time she shot him, he staggered.
Next time she shot him, he fell.
Third time she shot her Johnny,
There was a new man's face in hell.
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

Frankie was clearly pissed off but had no need to use strong language. [FRANKIE AND ALBERT]

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FBI BARBECUE (Patrick Sky)
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 03:09 PM

Anger comes in all forms and all ways...I think that if "Revenge is sweetest when supped at leisure" (or words to that effect), Woody's EAST TEXAS RED fits this genre...about my favorite "Don't get mad, Get even" song.

Or sometimes when the songwriter is outraged, sarcasm can be far angrier and nastier than anything else. Try this for instance:

The F.B.I. Barbeque
...Patrick Sky

It'll be a hot time tonight
In Old Waco Texas
At the FBI barbecue
All our people are saying what a terrible loss
So just roll back those tanks and pass me the sauce
Yes we'll light up the sky
In Old Waco Texas
The cooks will know just what to do
Delta force or Branch Davidian
You can all read from your Gideon
At the FBI barbecue

Yes its a beautiful sight
Here in Old Waco Texas
With the Army and the NRA
Let's bang some more Davidsons what is all this fuss
They're Americans to you but they're the enemy to us
So lets all sing and shout
Here in old Waco Texas
We'll stop to have a prayer or two
We can drown out the cries
As we practice telling lies
At the FBI barbecue

We'll enjoy ourselves
In Old Waco Texas
At the FBI barbecue
We'll all toss our grenades at the beautiful fire
And watch the agents dance around the funeral pyre
So ya'll come on down to Old Waco Texas
And we can crack a beer or two
So if you want to have some fun
We can all shout "Well Done!"
At the FBI barbecue
Exploit the media-- at the FBI Barbecue
Invite the president-- to the FBI Barbecue
Let's make a movie at-- the FBI Barbecue
But don't tell Janet Reno -- the FBI Barbecue

You can listen to that one Here--FBI Barbeque

Spaw

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: 53
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 02:35 PM

hank jr. has a song called A COUNTRY BOY CAN SURVIVE, talking about spitting beech nut in some dude's eye and shooting him with his forty-five, after he heard of a friend of his getting killed in N Y for 44 dollars, its a damn good song. BOB

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Abby Sale
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 02:31 PM

Oh, I just thought of "BUFFALO SKINNERS." They seemed pretty irritated.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 01:53 PM

CHRISTMAS NIGHT IN THE WORKHOUSE. And, in a narrative vein, there's the classic story of the revenge of the mason who was stiffed out of his fee, BO LAMKIN.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Abby Sale
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 01:48 PM

Hmmm. Getting some good ones here. "Barrett's" is certainly one.

Midchuck, that verse reminds me of stagecoach robber, Black Bart Bolton's actual verse her left in the strong boxes (after emptying them, of course)

Too long, in vain, I've toiled for bread,
For honor, fame, and riches,
But on my toes too long you've tread,
You fine-haired sons of bitches.

Black Bart, the Po8

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 01:29 PM

Since we've jumped over into non-folk, THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN' Which brings to mind this true story.

A dance instructor, fine talented man, Eddie Carrier, who attempted to teach my two left feet (then in their third and fourth years of stumbling instruction), was newly moved into the same apartment complex with Sonny and Cher. One afternoon, he was late to the studio to teach our small class. His explanation was that a horrific, screaming, bashing, crashing argument had broken out. He called the police. An hour later, there was a terrible pounding on his door and Cher proceeded to "rip him a new-one" about his interfering with their domestic-noise, demanding that he "Never, ever, call the police again," explaining that "this was how they made love!"

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 01:24 PM

I once heard a busker sing a song that had the refrain, "Won't you die, you yuppie scum." And he had the nerve to sing that in downtown Minneapolis, right outside City Center, downtown's biggest shopping center.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 01:01 PM

I searched "Angry folk songs", and I came across this hilarious web-site:

http://www.theworstoftheworst.com/wotw_folk.html

Below is the commentary about one song in particular; you have to click on the link so you can play it & listen to the lyrics in their entirety---I'm going to be laughing all day! But this was by no means alone in its astonishing badness.....I'm reminded of Dan Ackroyd as Leonard Pinth Garnell on the old SNL: "Yes, this really bites the big one"!!!

"Mother Rage" by Kathy Fire Angry Lesbian Folk

Buy Lesbian Folk Music Liner Notes Torture Factor = 8 Nothing can start your day off better then a big fat helping of angry lesbian folk music. Kathy Fire's call to arms is a war cry to virulent lesbians everywhere. This is a very ireful woman who warns men that our "day of castration" is near. No "suit wearing puppet man" will be safe when Kathy and her NOW card carrying, mullet cut army of womym in comfortable shoes bring a hornet's nest about the ears of all humans who happen to possess a penis. Beware men, there is no opportunity to repent. Just a long slow death at the hands of rabid split tail lovers.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Midchuck in Bozeman
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 12:50 PM

Tom Russell: "THE SKY ABOVE, THE MUD BELOW."

You horsehair-braiding sons of bitches
Stole my claim to earthly riches.
Someone go and dig a ditch!
There may well be a hangin'.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 12:21 PM

I once knew a punk band who had a song called "I Hate Your F***ing Guts"! I'm trying to think of some really pissed-off folk songs.....yes, Lord Arlen/Donald/Arnold/Daniel was indeed pretty bent of shape with both MATTY GROVES and "his own dear wife", especially when he "struck his wife right through the heart and pinned her against the wall"!

Hmmmm....what others?

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: robomatic
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 12:17 PM

There are not many good 'angry' songs at least compared to the vast quantity of Moon in June stuff. I keep my ears way wide for 'em too. I submit:

'MAGGIE MAY' yea it's pop, so what?

'Hurricane'

Warren Zevon can do an angry song:

'Play it All Night Long' might qualify

And of course, the master, Richard Thompson, always sharp-eyed and hard-edged:

'The New Me', 'GOD LOVES A DRUNK', 'Mother Knows Best'

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Homeless
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 12:16 PM

Dan - that's not AC/DC, it's Nazareth, and the name of the song is "Hair of the Dog" off the album of the same name.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:50 AM

Some of our singer/songwriters can write some angry songs. Michael Jerling had one called (I think) "Never Met You." [=STUPID] Sample verses: "Will Rogers said he never met a man he didn't like but I'm willing to bet he never met you." Or Richard Shindell's Halloween song (I don't know the title). [=ARE YOU HAPPY NOW] Can't put together and verses, but it is basically a song about "you jilted me, so bugger off."

John Gorka wrote a nice song about his car being stolen in New York. [=STRANGER IN MY DRIVER'S SEAT] Tom Paxton wrote a spritely tune to an angry song called "THANK YOU REPUBLIC AIRLINES (for breaking the neck on my guitar)" There is an old blues song with the line "I feel like snappin' a pistol, Baby in your face. / You know that graveyard will be your restin' place." I think the list will be very long. Since I grew up in a family where anger was seldom expressed, I find myself attracted to "angry songs."

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: heric
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:25 AM

Since someone has now mentioned non-folk, I have recently taken inspiration from a song about a man beguiled and then betrayed by the feminine wiles of a dark-haired beauty. It's AC/DC's (Now You're Messing with a) Son of a Bitch. With uncharacteristic subtlety, there's no plan of action stated. But truly pissed? Oh, yes indeed.

Subject: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 10:35 AM

Stan Rogers wrote a few, THE MARY ELLEN CARTER and BARRETT'S PRIVATEERS come to mind. Songs of the Pi**ed off seems to be a very small genre and pretty much confined to folk and punk music.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: gnomad
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 10:20 AM

How about Keith Marsden's Knocking at the Door, he sounds pretty bitter. {=IDLERS AND SKIVERS}

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: ermintrudeclaire
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 09:25 AM

lord whoverver you sing him as (arnold in fairports version) seemed fairly cheesed off with matty groves.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Wesley S
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 09:14 AM

How about "IF I HAD A ROCKET LAUNCHER" by Bruce Cockburn? He sounds pretty annoyed to me.

Subject: RE: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 08:49 AM

If i get my html right try DAVY LOWSTON

I think our Davy has every right to be truly pissed off as well!!!

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: Songs about truly pissed-off people
From: Abby Sale
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 08:41 AM

Couple of weeks ago I sang "Sam Hall" - the 'God damn your eyes' variant, not the wimped-out 'Damn your eyes' one. One feller really perked up and said he'd never come across a folk song with the word 'shit' in it and did I know any more? I allowed there were many, many but I only sang two or three such.

But it got me to thinking that the very strong chorus in this song is quite appropriate considering just how pissed-off Sam Hall really is. I mean, he's unrepentant and about to be hanged so it's understandable, even if not very polite.

So, in one of those "what songs can you think of things," what songs can you think of about truly annoyed people. I'm sure I'm blanking as I can only think of one, "THE UNRECONSTRUCTED REBEL." Plus the Ranter, James McPherson, who was clearly annoyed if not quite spitting fire.

I'm sure there are many more. Any ideas?

[Many song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]